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Within theories of argument structure and morphological case the position of instruments is particularly interesting. As noted by Jackendoff, (some) instruments can be perceived as 'intermediary agents', and be accorded privileges not normally found with non-core arguments (non-terms). They can also be incorporated in the lexicalisation of an event, leading to highly specific morphemes (such as the Siouxan instrumental prefixes, denoting the kind of instrument or force that enables an action) or lexical classes (such as Austronesian verbs of carrying, which vary according to body part involved).

The aim of this workshop is to establish greater awareness of instruments and instrumentals, the insights that such studies provide, and how they inform theoretical models. We would be particularly interested in papers that investigate the impact of studies of instrumentals on theories of syntax and case marking.

As the workshop is centered on empirical phenomena, no specialized background will be required. The workshop will be open to all interested.

Call for Papers

Morphosyntactic Aspects of Instruments and Instrumentals.

The phenomena we will discuss include, but are not restricted to:

- syncretisms involving the coding of instruments; this might involve syncretisms with structural or other semantic cases, or syncretisms with other functions entirely; - overlaps in syntactic behaviour between instruments and subjects, or instruments and objects; - discussion of the termhood of instruments cross-linguistically or in language-specific settings.

Abstracts are invited for 30 minute talks (20 minute presentations + 10 minute question-and-answer period) relevant to the workshop theme. All material is to be submitted in .pdf format. Non-standard fonts should be avoided wherever possible, and if necessary should be embedded in the .pdf document. Applicants are limited to one singly-authored and one jointly-authored abstract.

Abstracts should be anonymous and should not exceed one A4 page with a 2.5cm margin on each side and in at least 12 pt. Times font. A second page (in a separate file) should be submitted with the title of your paper and names, affiliations, and preferred contact details of the authors.

Abstracts are to be submitted via email to the conference address (instruments08gmail.com). Only abstracts received before the final deadline and only those following the guidelines specified above will be accepted.

Submission Deadline: April 1, 2008. Notifications of acceptance will be circulated by April 15, 2008

The aim of SEPLN is to provide a forum for discussion and communication where the latest research works, developments and innovation activities in the field of Natural Language Processing (NLP) can be presented by scientific and business communities. In this conference, new possibilities of real applications of NLP and I+D projects in this field are exposed. Moreover, as in previous editions of this conference, there is the intention of identifying future guidelines or paths for basic research and foreseen software applications, in order to compare them against the market needs. Finally, the conference intends to be an appropriate forum in helping new professionals to become active members in this field.

First Call for Papers for SEPLN 2008

24th Conference of the Spanish Society for Natural Language Processing

The 24th edition of the conference of the Spanish Society for Natural Language Processing (SEPLN) will take place on September 10-12, 2008 in Escuela Politécnica Superior of the Universidad Carlos III de Madrid (Spain).

The conference will last three days, with sessions dedicated to presenting papers, ongoing research projects, prototype product demonstrations or products connected with topics addressed in the conference.

Submissions

- Communications Authors are encouraged to send theoretical or system-related proposals to be presented at the demonstration sessions, all of them related to the Natural Language Processing field. The proposal must be submitted earlier than April 28, 2008 and they must meet certain format and style requirements. We recommend using the LaTeX and Word templates that can be downloaded from the conference webpage (http://basesdatos.uc3m.es/sepln2008/web/).

As general information, the proposals will meet the following requirements: - Proposals will include a title of the communication - Proposals will include the complete names of the authors, their address, telephone, fax and e-mail. - Proposals will include an abstract in English and Spanish (maximum 150 words). Keywords or related topics must be specified in the proposal. - The proposal can be written and presented in Spanish or English, and its overall maximum length will be 3,500 words.

- Projects and Demos As in previous editions, the organizers encourage participants to give oral presentations of R+D projects and demos of systems or tools related to the PLN field. As the communication proposals, both the delivery and revision of projects and demos proposals will be done exclusively in electronic format (PostScript or PDF) via EasyChair (http://www.easychair.org/conferences/?conf=sepln2008). We recommend using the LaTeX and Word templates for projects and demos that can be downloaded from the conference webpage (http://basesdatos.uc3m.es/sepln2008/web/).

For oral presentation of I+D projects to be accepted, the following information must be included: - Project title - Funding institution - Participant groups in the project - Name, affiliation, e-mail and phone number of the project director - Abstract (2 pages maximum)

For demonstrations to be accepted, the following information is mandatory: - Demo title - Name, affiliation, e-mail and phone number of the authors - Abstract (2 pages maximum) - Time estimation for the whole presentation

This information must be received by the conference organization before June 6, 2008.

Publication Format

The final version of the article will be sent before June 27, 2008 through the same web system (EasyChair-http://www.easychair.org/conferences/?conf=sepln2008). - Documents must not include headers or footings. - Maximum length will be 8 pages DIN A4 (210 x 297 mm), included references and figures. - In the case of demonstrations and projects, maximum length will be 2 pages.

Dates for submission and notifications of acceptance: - Deadline for submitting papers: April 28, 2008 - Notification of acceptance: June 13, 2008 - Deadline for submitting the final version: June 27, 2008 - Deadline for submitting projects and demos: June 6, 2008